Managing virtual port channel switch peers from software-defined network controller

ABSTRACT

Systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for configuring a virtual port channel (VPC) domain. The disclosed technology involves determining that a first switch and a second switch are connected in a VPC domain, determining that the first switch is in a primary role, and determining a unique identifier for the first switch, a VPC portchannel number for the first switch, and an orphan port number for the first switch. Also, the first switch receives a unique identifier, a VPC portchannel number, and an orphan port number for the second switch. The first switch can associate the VPC portchannel number for the second switch and the VPC portchannel number for the first switch with a unified VPC portchannel number and create a first unique orphan port number for the first switch and a second unique orphan port number for the second switch.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present technology pertains to network configuration, and more specifically, to configuring a virtual port channel switch from a software-defined network controller.

BACKGROUND

Virtual port channels (VPCs) allow creation of more resilient layer-2 network topologies based on the principles of link aggregation. VPCs can also provide increased bandwidth by trunking multiple physical links. To create a VPC domain, a couple of VPC peers, also known as VPC switches, are typically joined together to combine the multiple physical links into a single logical link. In order to operate as one logical device, the VPC peers may communicate with each other to exchange data as well as various forms of internal state information to keep synchronized with each other. The resultant VPC domain can provide switching and routing services to any endpoint hosts that may sit behind the VPC such that the endpoints can seamlessly communicate with the rest of the network. However, traditional VPC configuration requires an administrator to access the switches in the VPC domain via a Command Line Interface (CLI) and specify how to configure ports.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to describe the manner in which the above-recited and other advantages and features of the disclosure can be obtained, a more particular description of the principles briefly described above will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof which are illustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawings depict only exemplary embodiments of the disclosure and are not therefore to be considered to be limiting of its scope, the principles herein are described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example network device according to some aspects of the subject technology;

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate example system embodiments according to some aspects of the subject technology;

FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic block diagram of an example architecture for a network fabric;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example overlay network;

FIG. 5A illustrates a physical topology of an example vPC implementation;

FIG. 5B illustrates a logical topology of an example vPC implementation;

FIG. 6 illustrates a network topology of a pair of switch peers configured as a VPC domain and connected to a software-defined network controller;

FIG. 7 illustrates a method of configuring a pair of switch peers in a VPC domain using a software-defined network SDN controller; and

FIG. 8 illustrates a method of a switch executing a broker service for allowing a SDN controller to automatically configure a VPC domain.

DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

Various embodiments of the disclosure are discussed in detail below. While specific implementations are discussed, it should be understood that this is done for illustration purposes only. A person skilled in the relevant art will recognize that other components and configurations may be used without parting from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.

Overview

Disclosed are systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for configuring a virtual port channel (VPC) domain. In some cases, the disclosed technology involves determining that a first switch and a second switch are connected in a pair of switch peers in the VPC domain and determining, by the first switch, that the first switch is in a primary role. Next, the technology can involve determining a unique identifier for the first switch, a VPC portchannel number for the first switch, and an orphan port number for the first switch. Also, the first switch can receive a unique identifier for the second switch, a VPC portchannel number for the second switch, and an orphan port number for the second switch. Next, the first switch can associate the VPC portchannel number for the second switch and the VPC portchannel number for the first switch with a unified VPC portchannel number and create a first unique orphan port number for the first switch and a second unique orphan port number for the second switch. The first switch can then send the unified VPC portchannel number and the first and second unique orphan port numbers to a controller along with a request for port configuration data.

Example Embodiments

A computer network is a geographically distributed collection of nodes interconnected by communication links and segments for transporting data between endpoints, such as personal computers and workstations. Many types of networks are available, with the types ranging from local area networks (LANs) and wide area networks (WANs) to overlay and software-defined networks, such as virtual extensible local area networks (VXLANs).

LANs typically connect nodes over dedicated private communications links located in the same general physical location, such as a building or campus. WANs, on the other hand, typically connect geographically dispersed nodes over long-distance communications links, such as common carrier telephone lines, optical lightpaths, synchronous optical networks (SONET), or synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) links. LANs and WANs can include layer 2 (L2) and/or layer 3 (L3) networks and devices.

The Internet is an example of a WAN that connects disparate networks throughout the world, providing global communication between nodes on various networks. The nodes typically communicate over the network by exchanging discrete frames or packets of data according to predefined protocols, such as the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). In this context, a protocol can refer to a set of rules defining how the nodes interact with each other. Computer networks may be further interconnected by an intermediate network node, such as a router, to extend the effective “size” of each network.

Overlay networks generally allow virtual networks to be created and layered over a physical network infrastructure. Overlay network protocols, such as Virtual Extensible LAN (VXLAN), Network Virtualization using Generic Routing Encapsulation (NVGRE), Network Virtualization Overlays (NVO3), and Stateless Transport Tunneling (STT), provide a traffic encapsulation scheme which allows network traffic to be carried across L2 and L3 networks over a logical tunnel. Such logical tunnels can be originated and terminated through virtual tunnel end points (VTEPs).

Moreover, overlay networks can include virtual segments, such as VXLAN segments in a VXLAN overlay network, which can include virtual L2 and/or L3 overlay networks over which VMs communicate. The virtual segments can be identified through a virtual network identifier (VNI), such as a VXLAN network identifier, which can specifically identify an associated virtual segment or domain.

Network virtualization allows hardware and software resources to be combined in a virtual network. For example, network virtualization can allow multiple numbers of VMs to be attached to the physical network via respective virtual LANs (VLANs). The VMs can be grouped according to their respective VLAN, and can communicate with other VMs as well as other devices on the internal or external network.

Network segments, such as physical or virtual segments; networks; devices; ports; physical or logical links; and/or traffic in general can be grouped into a bridge or flood domain. A bridge domain or flood domain can represent a broadcast domain, such as an L2 broadcast domain. A bridge domain or flood domain can include a single subnet, but can also include multiple subnets. Moreover, a bridge domain can be associated with a bridge domain interface on a network device, such as a switch. A bridge domain interface can be a logical interface which supports traffic between an L2 bridged network and an L3 routed network. In addition, a bridge domain interface can support internet protocol (IP) termination, VPN termination, address resolution handling, MAC addressing, etc. Both bridge domains and bridge domain interfaces can be identified by a same index or identifier.

Furthermore, endpoint groups (EPGs) can be used in a network for mapping applications to the network. In particular, EPGs can use a grouping of application endpoints in a network to apply connectivity and policy to the group of applications. EPGs can act as a container for buckets or collections of applications, or application components, and tiers for implementing forwarding and policy logic. EPGs also allow separation of network policy, security, and forwarding from addressing by instead using logical application boundaries.

Cloud computing can also be provided in one or more networks to provide computing services using shared resources. Cloud computing can generally include Internet-based computing in which computing resources are dynamically provisioned and allocated to client or user computers or other devices on-demand, from a collection of resources available via the network (e.g., “the cloud”). Cloud computing resources, for example, can include any type of resource, such as computing, storage, and network devices, virtual machines (VMs), etc. For instance, resources may include service devices (firewalls, deep packet inspectors, traffic monitors, load balancers, etc.), compute/processing devices (servers, CPU's, memory, brute force processing capability), storage devices (e.g., network attached storages, storage area network devices), etc. In addition, such resources may be used to support virtual networks, virtual machines (VM), databases, applications (Apps), etc.

Cloud computing resources may include a “private cloud,” a “public cloud,” and/or a “hybrid cloud.” A “hybrid cloud” can be a cloud infrastructure composed of two or more clouds that inter-operate or federate through technology. In essence, a hybrid cloud is an interaction between private and public clouds where a private cloud joins a public cloud and utilizes public cloud resources in a secure and scalable manner. Cloud computing resources can also be provisioned via virtual networks in an overlay network, such as a VXLAN.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary network device 110 suitable for implementing the present invention. Network device 110 includes a master central processing unit (CPU) 162, interfaces 168, and a bus 115 (e.g., a PCI bus). When acting under the control of appropriate software or firmware, the CPU 162 is responsible for executing packet management, error detection, and/or routing functions, such as miscabling detection functions, for example. The CPU 162 preferably accomplishes all these functions under the control of software including an operating system and any appropriate applications software. CPU 162 may include one or more processors 163 such as a processor from the Motorola family of microprocessors or the MIPS family of microprocessors. In an alternative embodiment, processor 163 is specially designed hardware for controlling the operations of router 110. In a specific embodiment, a memory 161 (such as non-volatile RAM and/or ROM) also forms part of CPU 162. However, there are many different ways in which memory could be coupled to the system.

The interfaces 168 are typically provided as interface cards (sometimes referred to as “line cards”). Generally, they control the sending and receiving of data packets over the network and sometimes support other peripherals used with the router 110. Among the interfaces that may be provided are Ethernet interfaces, frame relay interfaces, cable interfaces, DSL interfaces, token ring interfaces, and the like. In addition, various very high-speed interfaces may be provided such as fast token ring interfaces, wireless interfaces, Ethernet interfaces, Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, ATM interfaces, HSSI interfaces, POS interfaces, FDDI interfaces and the like. Generally, these interfaces may include ports appropriate for communication with the appropriate media. In some cases, they may also include an independent processor and, in some instances, volatile RAM. The independent processors may control such communications intensive tasks as packet switching, media control and management. By providing separate processors for the communications intensive tasks, these interfaces allow the master microprocessor 162 to efficiently perform routing computations, network diagnostics, security functions, etc.

Although the system shown in FIG. 1 is one specific network device of the present invention, it is by no means the only network device architecture on which the present invention can be implemented. For example, an architecture having a single processor that handles communications as well as routing computations, etc. is often used. Further, other types of interfaces and media could also be used with the router.

Regardless of the network device's configuration, it may employ one or more memories or memory modules (including memory 161) configured to store program instructions for the general-purpose network operations and mechanisms for roaming, route optimization and routing functions described herein. The program instructions may control the operation of an operating system and/or one or more applications, for example. The memory or memories may also be configured to store tables such as mobility binding, registration, and association tables, etc.

FIG. 2A, and FIG. 2B illustrate exemplary possible system embodiments. The more appropriate embodiment will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art when practicing the present technology. Persons of ordinary skill in the art will also readily appreciate that other system embodiments are possible.

FIG. 2A illustrates a conventional system bus computing system architecture 200 wherein the components of the system are in electrical communication with each other using a bus 205. Exemplary system 200 includes a processing unit (CPU or processor) 210 and a system bus 205 that couples various system components including the system memory 215, such as read only memory (ROM) 220 and random access memory (RAM) 225, to the processor 210. The system 200 can include a cache of high-speed memory connected directly with, in close proximity to, or integrated as part of the processor 210. The system 200 can copy data from the memory 215 and/or the storage device 230 to the cache 212 for quick access by the processor 210. In this way, the cache can provide a performance boost that avoids processor 210 delays while waiting for data. These and other modules can control or be configured to control the processor 210 to perform various actions. Other system memory 215 may be available for use as well. The memory 215 can include multiple different types of memory with different performance characteristics. The processor 210 can include any general purpose processor and a hardware module or software module, such as module 1 (232), module 2 (234), and module 3 (236) stored in storage device 230, configured to control the processor 210 as well as a special-purpose processor where software instructions are incorporated into the actual processor design. The processor 210 may essentially be a completely self-contained computing system, containing multiple cores or processors, a bus, memory controller, cache, etc. A multi-core processor may be symmetric or asymmetric.

To enable user interaction with the computing device 200, an input device 245 can represent any number of input mechanisms, such as a microphone for speech, a touch-sensitive screen for gesture or graphical input, keyboard, mouse, motion input, speech and so forth. An output device 235 can also be one or more of a number of output mechanisms known to those of skill in the art. In some instances, multimodal systems can enable a user to provide multiple types of input to communicate with the computing device 200. The communications interface 240 can generally govern and manage the user input and system output. There is no restriction on operating on any particular hardware arrangement and therefore the basic features here may easily be substituted for improved hardware or firmware arrangements as they are developed.

Storage device 230 is a non-volatile memory and can be a hard disk or other types of computer readable media which can store data that are accessible by a computer, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, solid state memory devices, digital versatile disks, cartridges, random access memories (RAMs) 225, read only memory (ROM) 220, and hybrids thereof.

The storage device 230 can include software modules 232, 234, 236 for controlling the processor 210. Other hardware or software modules are contemplated. The storage device 230 can be connected to the system bus 205. In one aspect, a hardware module that performs a particular function can include the software component stored in a computer-readable medium in connection with the necessary hardware components, such as the processor 210, bus 205, display 235, and so forth, to carry out the function.

FIG. 2B illustrates a computer system 250 having a chipset architecture that can be used in executing the described method and generating and displaying a graphical user interface (GUI). Computer system 250 is an example of computer hardware, software, and firmware that can be used to implement the disclosed technology. System 250 can include a processor 255, representative of any number of physically and/or logically distinct resources capable of executing software, firmware, and hardware configured to perform identified computations. Processor 255 can communicate with a chipset 260 that can control input to and output from processor 255. In this example, chipset 260 outputs information to output 265, such as a display, and can read and write information to storage device 270, which can include magnetic media, and solid state media, for example. Chipset 260 can also read data from and write data to RAM 275. A bridge 280 for interfacing with a variety of user interface components 285 can be provided for interfacing with chipset 260. Such user interface components 285 can include a keyboard, a microphone, touch detection and processing circuitry, a pointing device, such as a mouse, and so on. In general, inputs to system 250 can come from any of a variety of sources, machine generated and/or human generated.

Chipset 260 can also interface with one or more communication interfaces 290 that can have different physical interfaces. Such communication interfaces can include interfaces for wired and wireless local area networks, for broadband wireless networks, as well as personal area networks. Some applications of the methods for generating, displaying, and using the GUI disclosed herein can include receiving ordered datasets over the physical interface or be generated by the machine itself by processor 255 analyzing data stored in storage 270 or 275. Further, the machine can receive inputs from a user via user interface components 285 and execute appropriate functions, such as browsing functions by interpreting these inputs using processor 255.

It can be appreciated that exemplary systems 200 and 250 can have more than one processor 210 or be part of a group or cluster of computing devices networked together to provide greater processing capability.

FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic block diagram of an example architecture 300 for network fabric 312. Network fabric 312 can include spine switches 302 _(A), 302 _(B), . . . , 302 _(N) (collectively “302”) connected to leaf switches 304 _(A), 304 _(B), 304 _(C), . . . , 304 _(N) (collectively “304”) in network fabric 312.

Spine switches 302 can be L3 switches in the fabric 312. However, in some cases, spine switches 302 can also, or otherwise, perform L2 functionalities. Further, spine switches 302 can support various capabilities, such as 40 or 10 Gbps Ethernet speeds. To this end, spine switches 302 can include one or more 40 Gigabit Ethernet ports. Each port can also be split to support other speeds. For example, a 40 Gigabit Ethernet port can be split into four 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports.

In some embodiments, one or more of spine switches 302 can be configured to host a proxy function that performs a lookup of the endpoint address identifier to locator mapping in a mapping database on behalf of leaf switches 304 that do not have such mapping. The proxy function can do this by parsing through the packet to the encapsulated, tenant packet to get to the destination locator address of the tenant. Spine switches 302 can then perform a lookup of their local mapping database to determine the correct locator address of the packet and forward the packet to the locator address without changing certain fields in the header of the packet.

When a packet is received at spine switch 302 _(i), spine switch 302 _(i) can first check if the destination locator address is a proxy address. If so, spine switch 302 _(i) can perform the proxy function as previously mentioned. If not, spine switch 302 _(i) can lookup the locator in its forwarding table and forward the packet accordingly.

Spine switches 302 connect to leaf switches 304 in fabric 312. Leaf switches 304 can include access ports (or non-fabric ports) and fabric ports. Fabric ports can provide uplinks to spine switches 302, while access ports can provide connectivity for devices, hosts, endpoints, VMs, or external networks to fabric 312.

Leaf switches 304 can reside at the edge of fabric 312, and can thus represent the physical network edge. In some cases, leaf switches 304 can be top-of-rack (ToR) switches configured according to a ToR architecture. In other cases, leaf switches 304 can be aggregation switches in any particular topology, such as end-of-row (EoR) or middle-of-row (MoR) topologies. Leaf switches 304 can also represent aggregation switches, for example.

Leaf switches 304 can be responsible for routing and/or bridging the tenant packets and applying network policies. In some cases, a leaf switch can perform one or more additional functions, such as implementing a mapping cache, sending packets to the proxy function when there is a miss in the cache, encapsulate packets, enforce ingress or egress policies, etc.

Moreover, leaf switches 304 can contain virtual switching functionalities, such as a virtual tunnel endpoint (VTEP) function as explained below in the discussion of VTEP 408 in FIG. 4. To this end, leaf switches 304 can connect fabric 312 to an overlay network, such as overlay network 400 illustrated in FIG. 4.

Network connectivity in fabric 312 can flow through leaf switches 304. Here, leaf switches 304 can provide servers, resources, endpoints, external networks, or VMs access to fabric 312, and can connect the leaf switches 304 to each other. In some cases, the leaf switches 304 can connect EPGs to fabric 312 and/or any external networks. Each EPG can connect to fabric 312 via one of leaf switches 304, for example.

Endpoints 310A-E (collectively “310”) can connect to the fabric 312 via leaf switches 304. For example, endpoints 310A and 310B can connect directly to leaf switch 304A, which can connect endpoints 310A and 310B to the fabric 312 and/or any other one of the leaf switches 304. Similarly, endpoint 310E can connect directly to leaf switch 304C, which can connect endpoint 310E to the fabric 312 and/or any other of the leaf switches 304. On the other hand, endpoints 310C and 310D can connect to leaf switch 304B via L2 network 306. Similarly, the wide area network (WAN) can connect to leaf switches 304C or 304D via L3 network 308.

Endpoints 310 can include any communication device, such as a computer, a server, a switch, a router, etc. In some cases, endpoints 310 can include a server, hypervisor, or switch configured with a VTEP functionality which connects an overlay network, such as overlay network 400 below, with fabric 312. For example, in some cases, the endpoints 310 can represent one or more of VTEPs 408A-D illustrated in FIG. 4. Here, VTEPs 408A-D can connect to fabric 312 via leaf switches 304. The overlay network can host physical devices, such as servers, applications, EPGs, virtual segments, virtual workloads, etc. In addition, endpoints 310 can host virtual workload(s), clusters, and applications or services, which can connect with fabric 312 or any other device or network, including an external network. For example, one or more endpoints 310 can host, or connect to, a cluster of load balancers or an EPG of various applications.

Although the fabric 312 is illustrated and described herein as an example leaf-spine architecture, one of ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that the subject technology can be implemented based on any network fabric, including any data center or cloud network fabric. Indeed, other architectures, designs, infrastructures, and variations are contemplated herein.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary overlay network 400. Overlay network 400 uses an overlay protocol, such as VXLAN, VGRE, V03, or STT, to encapsulate traffic in L2 and/or L3 packets which can cross overlay L3 boundaries in the network. As illustrated in FIG. 4, overlay network 400 can include hosts 406A-D interconnected via network 402.

Network 402 can include a packet network, such as an IP network, for example. Moreover, network 402 can connect the overlay network 400 with the fabric 312 in FIG. 3. For example, VTEPs 408A-D can connect with the leaf switches 304 in the fabric 312 via network 402.

Hosts 406A-D include virtual tunnel end points (VTEP) 408A-D, which can be virtual nodes or switches configured to encapsulate and de-encapsulate data traffic according to a specific overlay protocol of the network 400, for various virtual network identifiers (VNIDs) 410A-I. Moreover, hosts 406A-D can include servers containing a VTEP functionality, hypervisors, and physical switches, such as L3 switches, configured with a VTEP functionality. For example, hosts 406A and 406B can be physical switches configured to run VTEPs 408A-B. Here, hosts 406A and 406B can be connected to servers 404A-D, which, in some cases, can include virtual workloads through VMs loaded on the servers, for example.

In some embodiments, network 400 can be a VXLAN network, and VTEPs 408A-D can be VXLAN tunnel end points. However, as one of ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize, network 400 can represent any type of overlay or software-defined network, such as NVGRE, STT, or even overlay technologies yet to be invented.

The VNIDs can represent the segregated virtual networks in overlay network 400. Each of the overlay tunnels (VTEPs 408A-D) can include one or more VNIDs. For example, VTEP 408A can include VNIDs 1 and 2, VTEP 408B can include VNIDs 1 and 3, VTEP 408C can include VNIDs 1 and 2, and VTEP 408D can include VNIDs 1-3. As one of ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize, any particular VTEP can, in other embodiments, have numerous VNIDs, including more than the 3 VNIDs illustrated in FIG. 4.

The traffic in overlay network 400 can be segregated logically according to specific VNIDs. This way, traffic intended for VNID 1 can be accessed by devices residing in VNID 1, while other devices residing in other VNIDs (e.g., VNIDs 2 and 3) can be prevented from accessing such traffic. In other words, devices or endpoints connected to specific VNIDs can communicate with other devices or endpoints connected to the same specific VNIDs, while traffic from separate VNIDs can be isolated to prevent devices or endpoints in other specific VNIDs from accessing traffic in different VNIDs.

Servers 404A-D and VMs 404E-I can connect to their respective VNID or virtual segment, and communicate with other servers or VMs residing in the same VNID or virtual segment. For example, server 404A can communicate with server 404C and VMs 404E and 404G because they all reside in the same VNID, viz., VNID 1. Similarly, server 404B can communicate with VMs 404F, H because they all reside in VNID 2. VMs 404E-I can host virtual workloads, which can include application workloads, resources, and services, for example. However, in some cases, servers 404A-D can similarly host virtual workloads through VMs hosted on servers 404A-D. Moreover, each of servers 404A-D and VMs 404E-I can represent a single server or VM, but can also represent multiple servers or VMs, such as a cluster of servers or VMs.

VTEPs 408A-D can encapsulate packets directed at the various VNIDs 1-3 in overlay network 400 according to the specific overlay protocol implemented, such as VXLAN, so traffic can be properly transmitted to the correct VNID and recipient(s). Moreover, when a switch, router, or other network device receives a packet to be transmitted to a recipient in the overlay network 400, it can analyze a routing table, such as a lookup table, to determine where such packet needs to be transmitted so the traffic reaches the appropriate recipient. For example, if VTEP 408A receives a packet from endpoint 404B that is intended for endpoint 404H, VTEP 408A can analyze a routing table that maps the intended endpoint, endpoint 404H, to a specific switch that is configured to handle communications intended for endpoint 404H. VTEP 408A might not initially know, when it receives the packet from endpoint 404B, that such packet should be transmitted to VTEP 408D in order to reach endpoint 404H. Accordingly, by analyzing the routing table, VTEP 408A can lookup endpoint 404H, which is the intended recipient, and determine that the packet should be transmitted to VTEP 408D, as specified in the routing table based on endpoint-to-switch mappings or bindings, so the packet can be transmitted to, and received by, endpoint 404H as expected.

However, continuing with the previous example, in many instances, VTEP 408A may analyze the routing table and fail to find any bindings or mappings associated with the intended recipient, e.g., endpoint 404H. Here, the routing table may not yet have learned routing information regarding endpoint 404H. In this scenario, VTEP 408A may likely broadcast or multicast the packet to ensure the proper switch associated with endpoint 404H can receive the packet and further route it to endpoint 404H.

In some cases, the routing table can be dynamically and continuously modified by removing unnecessary or stale entries and adding new or necessary entries, in order to maintain the routing table up-to-date, accurate, and efficient, while reducing or limiting the size of the table.

As one of ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize, the examples and technologies provided above are simply for clarity and explanation purposes, and can include many additional concepts and variations.

FIG. 5A illustrates a physical topology of an example vPC implementation. In this example vPC implementation 500, vPC peer 504A and vPC peer 504B are joined together to form vPC domain 506 and provide a virtual port channel to endpoint host 510. A port channel (sometimes stylized as “PortChannel”) can bundle multiple individual interfaces into a group to provide increased bandwidth and redundancy. Port channeling can also load balance traffic across these physical interfaces. The port channel may stay operational as long as at least one physical interface within the port channel is operational. A virtual port channel (sometimes stylized as “virtual PortChannel” or “vPC”) may allow links that are physically connected to two different devices (e.g., switches) to appear as a single port channel to a third device. In other words, vPC may extend link aggregation to two separate physical devices. The link aggregation can be facilitated by using, for example, link aggregation control protocol (LACP). This may allow the creation of resilient L2 topologies based on link aggregation, thereby effectively eliminating the need for the use of spanning tree protocol (STP). vPC may also provide increased bandwidth because all links can actively and simultaneously forward data traffic. Although FIG. 5A shows two vPC peers 504A, 504B (collectively “504”) working in tandem to create vPC domain 506, one of skill in the art will understand that vPC domain 506 may be created by using three or more peer switches as well.

Although FIG. 5A shows only one endpoint for vPC peers 504, one of skill in the art will understand that multiple endpoints may be connected to vPC peers 504. vPC peer 504A and vPC 504B may also be connected to network 502, and endpoint host 510 can communicate with network 502 through the vPC jointly provided by vPC peers 504. Network 502 can be a LAN, a WAN, an overlay network, etc. Network 502 may consist of one or more spine nodes, such as spine switches 302 as illustrated in FIG. 3, and vPC peer 504A and vPC peer 504 B can be leaf nodes, such as leaf switches 304 as illustrated in FIG. 3. vPC peer 504A and vPC peer 504B can be a network device such as a switch that is configured to physically connect various network devices and perform packet switching to route data packets from one node to another node in the network. Moreover, vPC peers 504 can be a ToR server and/or a VTEP such as VTEP 408 as shown in FIG. 4. As such, vPC peers 504 may have both L2 and L3 functionalities and/or provide L2-to-L3 encapsulation and L3-to-L2 de-encapsulation.

In order for vPC peer 504A and vPC 504B to work in concert, their routing and switching information may need to be in sync. To facilitate this, vPC peers 504 can be connected to each other through dedicated peer-link 512. Peer-link 512 can be a multi-chassis trunking (MCT) link. However, peer-link 512 need not be a dedicated physical link that connects vPC peer 504A directly with vPC peer 504B. For example, peer-link 512 can be a logical link or a connection that is established over a physical overlay network such as an Insieme® fabric. In such embodiment, the fabric itself can serve as peer-link 512. vPC peer 504A and vPC 504B may exchange control plane messages as well as data traffic through peer-link 512. An additional out-of-band mechanism (not shown in FIG. 5A) may be employed to detect peer liveliness in case of peer-link 512 failure. For instance, a routing protocol, such as Intermediate System to Intermediate System (IS-IS) or Open Shortest Path First (OSPF), running in the overlay network can provide liveness/reachability between vPC peers 504.

Endpoint host 510 can be a network device or a network node such as endpoints 310 as illustrated in FIG. 3. As such, endpoint 510 can be a computer, a server, a blade server, a rack server, a top-of-rack (ToR) server, a switch, a router, a hypervisor, a VTEP switch, a virtual machine (VM), etc. Endpoint 510 may interface with vPC domain 506 (i.e., vPC peer 504A and vPC peer 504B) via an L2 communication interface.

vPC domain 506 can be associated with a unique virtual address. The virtual IP address can be an L3 address, such as a virtual IP (VIP) address. As such, vPC peer 504A and vPC peer 504B may both share and host this VIP address. In other words, data packets originating from network 502 and destined for the VIP address may be routed to either vPC peer 504A or vPC peer 504B at any given time. vPC domain 506 may also be associated with an L2 address, such as a media access control (MAC) address. In some aspects, vPC peer 504A and vPC peer 504B may each have a distinct MAC address such that endpoint host 510 can selectively transmit data packets to one or both of the peers.

FIG. 5B illustrates a logical topology of an example vPC implementation. In this logical topology of example vPC implementation 500, the two physical peer switches 504 may appear to other devices as a single logical vPC 506. vPC domain 506 may be associated with a VIP address, which can be shared by physical vPC peers 504. vPC domain 506 and/or each individual vPC peer 504 may have a MAC address unique assigned to it. As such, nodes in network 502 may transmit traffic, destined for endpoint 510, towards the VIP address of vPC domain 506, and endpoint 510 may also transmit data traffic, destined for one or more nodes in network 502, towards the MAC address of vPC domain 506. In some aspects, vPC 506 may maintain routing and switching information for handling L2 and L3 traffic. For example, vPC 506 may maintain an overlay address table that provides L3 address mapping. In another example, vPC 506 may maintain a host reachability table that maps L2 addresses of any of the endpoints, including endpoint 510, with appropriate switching information. Such tables may be stored in each of physical vPC peers 504 and synchronized between vPC peers 504 via peer-link 512. The routing and switching information can be made available to endpoint 510 and other devices or nodes in network 502 as well so that those devices may be able to determine which one of the two vPC peers 504 to transmit data packets to.

As explained above, traditional VPC configuration requires an administrator to access the switches in the VPC domain via a Command Line Interface (CLI) and configure ports. For example, in order to configure a VPC domain to support a virtual local area network (VLAN) a network administrator would need to manually assign switch ports in the VPC domain to establish VLAN membership. Manual configuration of VPC is complicated and can require continuous monitoring and re-configuration as services migrate in a network. Also, as explained above, a VPC domain can appear as a single logical port channel to a third device. Therefore, the present technology also involves systems, methods and computer-readable media for configuring a VPC using a software-defined network (SDN) controller with a single network connection to the VPC domain.

FIG. 6 illustrates a network topology 600 of an example of a pair of switch peers 604A, 604B configured as a VPC domain 606 and connected to a software-defined network controller 620 through a single network connection 608 via a network 602. Each of the switch peers 604A, 604B are respectively connected to a single-attached hosts 616A, 616B.

Additionally, the pair of switch peers 604A, 604B are connected in the VPC domain via a VPC-peerlink 612 and can provide a VPC portchannel 618 to an endpoint host 610. Since the controller 620 views the VPC domain 606 as a single logical entity connected to the endpoint host 610, the port channels 614A, 614B respectively connecting the switch peers 604A, 604B with the endpoint host 610, the port channels 614A, 614B should be configured identically to allow the VPC domain 606 to consistently deliver network traffic in the event that one of the switches in the pair of switch peers 604A, 604B fails.

However, as explained above, the VPC domain 606 is only connected to the controller 620 through a single network connection with one switch 604A in the pair of switch peers 604A, 604B. Therefore, configuration data needs to be brokered between the switch peers 604A, 604B. In some cases, the Broker Services 624A, 624B inherit the roles which are negotiated by the switch peers 604A, 604B. According to FIG. 6, when the VPC domain 606 is established between the switch peers 604A, 604B, a protocol is exchanged between the switch peers 604A, 604B which defines one switch 604A as Primary Switch and one switch 604B as Secondary Switch.

In some cases, the role of a primary switch is to establish a network connection with the SDN controller, retrieve switch port configuration information from the controller, and pass the configuration information between the ports. For the configuration to be effective, the port names for single-attached hosts (i.e. orphan ports) need to be uniquely defined. In some cases, the primary switch uniquely defines the switch ports by pre-pending the port numbers of the switches with the unique serial number of the switch. Also, in order for the VPC domain to be represented as a single logical unit, the VPC port channel also needs to be represented as a single port channel. Accordingly, the primary switch retrieves the names assigned to the VPC port channel from each switch and provides a single unified name. The broker service can also maintain a database of all of the port names, aliases, etc. Thus, after the primary switch exposes the unique port numbers as well as the unified VPC port channel name to the SDN controller, the broker service can properly assign port configuration data from the controller to the appropriate ports.

In the case of two switches with unique serial numbers in a VPC domain running the broker service, a SDN controller can be exposed to three port identifiers: Serial Number 1, Port A; Serial Number 2, Port B; and a unified VPC portchannel name. When the SDN controller configures ports for the VPC domain the three port identifiers are used. When the VLAN configurations are received from the controller is received by the primary switch, the primary switch can consult the database and push VLAN configuration to the appropriate ports.

In some cases, the role of the secondary switch is to provide the port channel information to the primary switch, receive port channel configuration from the controller via the VPC peerlink with the primary switch, and monitor the VPC domain for changes to the roles of the switches. For example, the secondary switch monitors the VPC domain for primary switch failure. In the event of primary switch failover, the secondary switch can assume the role of operational primary and, since the previous primary shared the configuration with the secondary switch, the new operational primary can maintain the connection with the SDN controller.

FIG. 7 illustrates a method 700 of configuring a pair of switch peers in a VPC domain using a software-defined network SDN controller. The method 700 involves executing a broker service on each switch in a pair of switch peers in a VPC domain 705. For example, the switches can execute plug-in software that adds the broker service to existing switch capability. As shown in FIG. 7, the method 700 involves the broker service negotiating which switch in the pair of switch peers operates in a primary (i.e. master) role and which switch operates in a secondary (i.e. slave) role 710.

As explained above, a SDN controller views the pair of switch peers in the VPC domain as one logical switch. Therefore, the controller communicates with the VPC domain via a single VPC port channel. So, when the broker service on a switch determines that the switch is in a primary role, the method 700 further involves creating a single unified VPC Portchannel number for both switches' port channel 715. Conversely, the switches' respective ports used to connect with single-attached hosts (i.e. orphan ports) require unique identifiers. Therefore, the method 700 involves the broker service creating unique orphan port numbers for each switch in the VPC domain 720. For example, each switch can have a unique serial number identifier and the broker service can pre-pend the orphan port number with the switches' serial number to uniquely identify the port channel.

Next, the method 700 involves the broker service transmitting the unified VPC Portchannel numbers and the unique orphan port numbers to the SDN controller 725 along with a request for port configuration data. Also, the method 700 involves receiving the port configuration data 730. For example, the broker service can maintain an index of all of the port information and request VLAN addressing information for assigning to the ports and receiving the same from the SDN controller. When the broker service receives the port configuration data, the method 700 can involve transmitting the port configuration data to the switch in the secondary role 735 and configuring the switch port channels on the switch in the primary role 740.

When the broker service determines that a switch in the VPC domain operates in a secondary role, the method 700 further involves receiving port configuration data from the switch operating in the primary role 745, monitoring the VPC domain for primary switch failure 750, and determining whether a failure is detected 755. When a failure is detected, the method 700 involves the switch operating the secondary role assuming the primary role 760 and using the port configuration data to maintain the connection with the SDN controller 765.

As explained above, a broker service can be executed (e.g. via a plug-in) on the switch peers themselves. Also, the broker service can be run in an external server, in a network element, or in a container in a network element, etc. The broker service can negotiate all communication between the SDN controller and VPC peer switches. The broker can also determine what information is to be communicated to primary, secondary switch or to both the switches. When information needs to be sent to both switches, it is possible that one of the switches fails the transaction while the other succeeds. This leaves the system in inconsistent state. To prevent such inconsistency, VPC switch peers can cross-check the configuration by running consistency check over the VPC peer link.

As explained above, the broker service can present all ports on the peer switches to the controller thus presenting two peer switches as a single switch. In some cases, both switches refer the network interfaces with same names and the broker service translates the interface names by prefixing the interface name with unique switch identification in north bound communication to controller. In south bound communication it will strip the switch identification prefix so that rest of the switch software can handle the interface names correctly.

Also, VPC port channels could have different naming on peer switches. However, the port configuration for VPC Portchannel should be identical on both switches. Even though the port channel names may be different, VPC number can be used to map the port on one peer to the other. Broker needs to query the vpc peer numbers for the port channels on both switches and must maintain the mapping in order to translate port naming in north and south bound communication. Also in this methodology if a port-channel moves from VPC port-channel to an orphaned port-channel and vice versa it is mapped by the broker.

FIG. 8 illustrates a method 800 of switch executing a broker service for allowing a SDN controller to automatically configure a VPC domain. The method involves detecting a connection with a peer switch in a VPC domain via a shared VPC-Peerlink 805 and executing a broker service that inherit the roles which are negotiated by the switch peers 810. The method 800 also involves determining that the first switch is in a primary role 815

Next, the method 800 involves the switch determining a unique identifier for the switch (e.g. a serial number), a VPC Portchannel number, and an orphan port number 820 and receiving, from peer switch, unique identifier, VPC Portchannel, and an orphan port number for peer switch 825. The method 800 can also involve associating the VPC Portchannel number for the switch and the VPC Portchannel number for the peer switch with a single unified VPC Portchannel number 830. In some cases, the unified VPC Portchannel number causes the SDN controller to view the VPC domain as a single switch. On the other hand, the method 800 can involve creating unique orphan port numbers for each of the switch and the peer switch 835, thereby allowing the orphan ports to be distinguishable by the broker service.

Next, the method involves sending the unified VPC Portchannel number and the unique orphan port numbers to a controller along with request for port configuration data 840, receiving port configuration data from the controller 845, configuring the orphan port of the first switch with the configuration data 850, and configuring the VPC Portchannel with the configuration data 855. Also, the method 800 involves transmitting the configuration data to the second switch 860.

For clarity of explanation, in some instances the present technology may be presented as including individual functional blocks including functional blocks comprising devices, device components, steps or routines in a method embodied in software, or combinations of hardware and software.

In some embodiments the computer-readable storage devices, mediums, and memories can include a cable or wireless signal containing a bit stream and the like. However, when mentioned, non-transitory computer-readable storage media expressly exclude media such as energy, carrier signals, electromagnetic waves, and signals per se.

Methods according to the above-described examples can be implemented using computer-executable instructions that are stored or otherwise available from computer readable media. Such instructions can comprise, for example, instructions and data which cause or otherwise configure a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or special purpose processing device to perform a certain function or group of functions. Portions of computer resources used can be accessible over a network. The computer executable instructions may be, for example, binaries, intermediate format instructions such as assembly language, firmware, or source code. Examples of computer-readable media that may be used to store instructions, information used, and/or information created during methods according to described examples include magnetic or optical disks, flash memory, USB devices provided with non-volatile memory, networked storage devices, and so on.

Devices implementing methods according to these disclosures can comprise hardware, firmware and/or software, and can take any of a variety of form factors. Typical examples of such form factors include laptops, smart phones, small form factor personal computers, personal digital assistants, rackmount devices, standalone devices, and so on. Functionality described herein also can be embodied in peripherals or add-in cards. Such functionality can also be implemented on a circuit board among different chips or different processes executing in a single device, by way of further example.

The instructions, media for conveying such instructions, computing resources for executing them, and other structures for supporting such computing resources are means for providing the functions described in these disclosures.

Although a variety of examples and other information was used to explain aspects within the scope of the appended claims, no limitation of the claims should be implied based on particular features or arrangements in such examples, as one of ordinary skill would be able to use these examples to derive a wide variety of implementations. Further and although some subject matter may have been described in language specific to examples of structural features and/or method steps, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to these described features or acts. For example, such functionality can be distributed differently or performed in components other than those identified herein. Rather, the described features and steps are disclosed as examples of components of systems and methods within the scope of the appended claims. Moreover, claim language reciting “at least one of” a set indicates that one member of the set or multiple members of the set satisfy the claim. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method for configuring a virtual port channel (VPC) domain comprising: determining that a first switch and a second switch are connected in a pair of switch peers in the VPC domain via a shared VPC-peerlink; determining, by the first switch, that the first switch is in a primary role; determining a first unique identifier for the first switch, a first VPC portchannel number for the first switch, and a first orphan port number for the first switch; receiving, from the second switch via the VPC-peerlink, a second unique identifier for the second switch, a second VPC portchannel number for the second switch, and a second orphan port number for the second switch; associating the second VPC portchannel number for the second switch and the first VPC portchannel number for the first switch with a unified VPC portchannel number; creating a first unique orphan port number for the first switch and a second unique orphan port number for the second switch; sending, to a controller along with a request for port configuration data, the unified VPC portchannel number and the first unique orphan port number and the second unique orphan port number; and receiving, by the first switch from the controller, the port configuration data in the form of VLAN address configuration data.
 2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein creating the first unique orphan port number for the first switch and the second unique orphan port number for the second switch comprises pre-pending the first orphan port number of the first switch with the first unique identifier of the first switch and the second orphan port number of the second switch with the second unique identifier of the second switch.
 3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the first unique identifier for the first switch comprises a first serial number for the first switch and the second unique identifier for the second switch comprises a second serial number for the second switch.
 4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining that the first switch is in the primary role further comprises executing a broker service configured to inherit the primary role or a secondary role from the first switch.
 5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: configuring a first orphan port of the first switch with the VLAN address configuration data; configuring the first VPC portchannel for the first switch that is associated with the unified VPC portchannel with the VLAN address configuration data for the unified VPC portchannel; and transmitting, to the second switch, the VLAN address configuration data for the unified VPC portchannel to associate with the second VPC portchannel for the second switch and for configuring second orphan port of the second switch.
 6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: suppressing information identifying the VPC peerlink from the controller.
 7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the port configuration data includes the unified VPC portchannel number, the first unique orphan port number, and the second unique orphan port number.
 8. A network switch comprising: a processor; and a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising: determining that a first network switch and a second network switch are connected in a pair of switch peers in a virtual port channel (VPC) domain via a shared VPC-peerlink; determining that the first network switch is in a primary role; determining a first unique identifier for the network switch, a first VPC portchannel number for the first network switch, and a first orphan port number for the network switch; receiving, from the second network switch, a second unique identifier for the second network switch, a second VPC portchannel number for the second network switch, and a second orphan port number for the second network switch; associating the second VPC portchannel number for the second network switch and the first VPC portchannel number for the first network switch with a unified VPC portchannel number; creating a first unique orphan port number for the first network switch and a second unique orphan port number for the second network switch; sending, to a controller along with a request for port configuration data, the unified VPC portchannel number and the first and second unique orphan port numbers; and receiving, by the first network switch from the controller, the port configuration data in the form of VLAN address configuration data.
 9. The network switch of claim 8, wherein creating the first unique orphan port number for the first network switch and the second unique orphan port number for the second network switch comprises pre-pending the first orphan port number of the first network switch with the first unique identifier of the first network switch and the second orphan port number of the second network switch with the second unique identifier of the second network switch.
 10. The network switch of claim 9, wherein the first unique identifier for the first network switch comprises a first serial number for the first network switch and the second unique identifier for the second network switch comprises a second serial number for the second network switch.
 11. The network switch of claim 8, wherein determining that the first network switch is in the primary role further comprises executing a broker service configured to inherit the primary role or a secondary role from the first network switch.
 12. The network switch of claim 8, wherein the instructions further cause the operations of: configuring a first orphan port of the first network switch with the VLAN address configuration data; configuring the first VPC portchannel for the first network switch that is associated with the unified VPC portchannel with the VLAN address configuration data for the unified VPC portchannel; and transmitting, to the second network switch, the VLAN address configuration data for the unified VPC portchannel to associate with the second VPC portchannel for the second network switch and for configuring a second orphan port of the second network switch.
 13. The network switch of claim 8, further comprising: suppressing information identifying the VPC peerlink from the controller.
 14. The network switch of claim 8, wherein the port configuration data includes the unified VPC portchannel number, the first unique orphan port number, and the second unique orphan port number.
 15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions which, when executed by a processor in a cloud controller associated with a network, cause the processor to perform operations comprising: determining that a first switch and a second switch are connected in a pair of switch peers in a virtual port channel (VPC) domain via a shared VPC-peerlink; determining, by the first switch, that the first switch is in a primary role; determining a first unique identifier for the first switch, a first VPC portchannel number for the first switch, and a first orphan port number for the first switch; receiving, from the second switch, a second unique identifier for the second switch, a second VPC portchannel number for the second switch, and a second orphan port number for the second switch; associating the second VPC portchannel number for the second switch and the first VPC portchannel number for the first switch with a unified VPC portchannel number; creating a first unique orphan port number for the first switch and a second unique orphan port number for the second switch; sending, to a controller along with a request for port configuration data, the unified VPC portchannel number and the first unique orphan port number and the second unique orphan port number; receiving, by the first switch from the controller, the port configuration data in the form of VLAN address configuration data.
 16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein creating the first unique orphan port number for the first switch and the second unique orphan port number for the second switch comprises pre-pending the first orphan port number of the first switch with the first unique identifier of the first switch and the second orphan port number of the second switch with the second unique identifier of the second switch.
 17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the first unique identifier for the first switch comprises a first serial number for the first switch and the second unique identifier for the second switch comprises a second serial number for the second switch.
 18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein determining that the first switch is in the primary role further comprises executing a broker service configured to inherit the primary role or a secondary role from the first switch.
 19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, further comprising: configuring a first orphan port of the first switch with the VLAN address configuration data; configuring the first VPC portchannel for the first switch that is associated with the unified VPC portchannel with the VLAN address configuration data for the unified VPC portchannel; and transmitting, to the second switch, the VLAN address configuration data for unified VPC portchannel to associate with the second VPC portchannel for the second switch and for configuring a second orphan port of the second switch.
 20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, further comprising: suppressing information identifying the VPC peerlink from the controller. 